Antonio Joli Modena circa 1700 - 1777 Naples

Richard Owen Cambridge (1717-1802), Cambridge House, Twickenham;
Archdeacon George Owen Cambridge (1756-1841), his sale, Christie's, 11th May 1824, lots 1 and 2 (when in the Front Parlour), bt. Bursby for £9.15;
George Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833), and thence by descent at Trentham Hall and Stafford House;
S.J. Phillips, sold Sotheby's, 16th November 1949, bt. Mitchell;
Alice Pleydell-Bouverie, by whose executors sold, Christie's, 25th October 1957, lot 37, bt by the Fine Arts Society;
Associated Electrical Industries Ltd., by whom sold, Sotheby's, 3rd April 1968, lot 50, bt. Leggatt, from whom acquired by the family of the present owner

Somerset House, London and the Thames, Paintings of Three Centuries, 6th July-9th October 1977, nos.19 and 20

Connoisseur, December 1957, p.259;
Ellis Waterhouse, British 18th Century Painters, 1981, p. 197 (one illus.);
Mario Manzelli, Antonio Joli, 1999, p.110, L.17 and L.18, illustrated figs. 84 and 85

These two charming landscapes illustrate the elegant sophistication of Richmond during the mid-eighteenth century.  In the former work Joli has focused on a view of Cholmondeley Walk and the peaceful river activity, and in the latter he has chosen to view the same topography from the raised viewpoint of Richmond Hill.

Cholmondeley House was built for George, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley circa 1740.  Situated along the banks of the Thames, it lends its name to the stretch of land reclaimed from the river known as Cholmondeley Walk, which runs alongside the main facade of the house.  The house was constructed from part of the outer wall of the destroyed Richmond Palace, and the land for Cholmondeley Walk was acquired from a neighbour in exchange for the 'Great Orchard' of the Old Palace in 1711.  In the eighteenth century Richmond attracted the prosperous members of society for its reputed health benefits, and in the present picture Joli has represented elegantly dressed figures promenading along the river.  In 1755 Cholmondeley House was acquired by Lord Brooke, who was later created Earl of Warwick.  The property then passed to the Hon. Richard Lyttleton, followed by Georginana, Countess Cowper, whose son, John, Earl Spencer purchased the house in 1765.  During the 1780s the house came into the possession of William Douglas, 4^th Duke of Queensberry, and on his death it was inherited by the Marquis of Hertford.  By 1830 the rate book described the once fine property as ‘in ruins’ and using much of the materials of the old house, the new Queenberry House  was built on the eastern part of the estate.

Moving east from Cholmondeley House is The Trumpeting House, or Garden Gate House.  In 1700 the Hon. Richard Hill, of Hawkstone, Shropshire, acquired a thirty year lease from the Crown for this property.  At the time that Joli painted this view the resident was Lewis Way, a barrister of the Inner Temple, Director of the South Sea Company, and President of Guy’s Hospital.  Moving further east still is Asgill House, named after Sir Charles Asgill (D.1788) for whom the house was built.  Charles Asgill was a highly successful banker, and served as Lord Mayor of London in 1757-58.  In 1761 he was created a baronet. 

From Cholmondeley Walk the top of Richmond Hill is visible.  From the sixteenth century onwards rich gentlemen had built their houses on the hill overlooking the Thames, and Joli has chosen this prospect for his second view of Richmond.  No.3 The Terrace was built for Christopher Blanchard, George III's cardmaker, and Sir Joshua Reynolds was a resident in Wick House which was designed for him by Sir William Chambers. The celebrated view from the top was an inspiration for artists and writers, and was painted by Turner, Martin and others.  Sir Walter Scott in his Heart of Midlothian describes the magnificent view in summer.

"A huge sea of verdure with crossing and interesting promonteries of massive and tufted groves,… tenanted by numberless flocks and herds, which seem to wander unrestrained, and unbounded, through rich pastures. The Thames, here turretted with villas and there garlanded with forests, moved on slowly and placidly, like the mighty monarch of the scene, to whom all its other beauties were accessories, and bore on his bosom a hundred barks and skiffs, whose white sails and gaily fluttering pennons gave life to the whole."

The paintings were almost certainly commissioned by Richard Owen Cambridge, a poet and essayist, who moved from his house at Whitmister in Gloucestershire in 1749 to London having inherited a large fortune from his uncle Richard Owen. In 1751 he moved out of the city to Twickenham and bought a fine villa on the edge of the Thames near Richmond Bridge. The house, which later became known as Cambridge House, was built by Sir Humphrey Lynd in the early seventeenth century, passing to Joyce Countess of Totnes and then to Joseph Ashe. Cambridge bought the house from Wyndham Ashe and lived there for the next fifty years until his death in 1802. He entertained his wide circle of friends there and one of his dinner parties, on 18th April 1775, is colourfully described by Boswell in his Life of Johnson. On his death his property passed to his younger son, George Owen Cambridge, who became Archdeacon of Middlesex. In 1824 the Archdeacon decided to leave Cambridge House and held a sale which included the two views by Joli. The catalogue described the sale as follows: "Collection of Italian, French, Flemish, Dutch and English Pictures formed more than 40 years ago by a gentleman, the father of the present Proprietor, who is removing from his Family Mansion in Twickenham Meadows, close to Richmond Bridge, to another residence, not suited for the reception of so large a collection."

The pictures were then acquired by George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland, the greatest landowner in the kingdom whose standards of living "exceeded everything in this country, no one could vie with it." (Farington). Sutherland was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable art collector, and owner of one of the first private galleries in London. The pictures hung at Trentham Hall in Staffordshire and then at Stafford House in London.